Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

The beginning of March brings a lot of fun to Kindergarten as we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss on March 2! Some of my favorite Dr. Seuss books and activities are listed below. It's impossible to read all of my favorite Dr. Seuss books on our celebration day. So, I select three and save the others for other days throughout the month of March.

Birthday Snacks for Dr. Seuss

Green Eggs and Ham

The classic green eggs and ham is always a hit in Kindergarten! However, if you don't have access to a skillet to cook up that delicious breakfast for your Kinders, try the sweet alternative above! These were so much fun to make, looked adorable, and the students loved eating them up after listening to the classic Dr. Seuss story Green Eggs and Ham. The only three ingredients you need are pretzels, the, white melting chocolate discs, and green chocolate balls. Follow the directions below.

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Set your oven to 200 degrees.
2. Line the pretzels on the parchment paper in a single layer and place a white chocolate disc on top. 
3. Bake for about 5 minutes. Keep an eye on them, as you don't want them to burn.
4. Take them out of the oven, and immediately place a chocolate ball on top. Gently press it into the chocolate.
5. Allow them to cool until the chocolate is hard.

If you have other Kindergarten teachers who might be interested in making these as well, it's helpful to chip in on the supplies and share them, as you might not need the entire package for your class (depending on how many you wanted to give each student).

By clicking on the pictures below, you can purchase the supplies directly from Amazon (affiliate links). Or, you can most likely find the supplies at local grocery stores near you!

      

Craft Activity

The Cat in the Hat
(Click the photo above to purchase on Amazon.com.) 

The first activity for the day is always the Cat in the Hat silly hat! I just use a paper template. Students color it in a red and white pattern, glue it to a red construction paper strip and I fit it to their head.  My students love wearing these all day!

Word Family Activities

The possibilities are pretty much open here! There are so many great Dr. Seuss books that lend themselves to great lessons on word families. Whichever word family I select to focus on, I start by reading the coordinating Dr. Seuss book to get some word ideas started.

• Hop On Pop: the -op word family
• Cat in the Hat: the -at word family

Then, we make a list of the word family words on chart paper. Next, I write the words on sentences strip cards (I just cut apart long strips; I don't buy the individual word cards) and add them to our pocket chart. This becomes a great center! Students can independently use the pocket chart words to write words into their word family house! For an extra challenge, students use the words to create their own sentences! Students can also use stamps and stamp out their words to add to the word family house. (Stamps pictured below.)

Rhyming Word Activities

Matching fun! Dr. Seuss stories are great introductions to any rhyming activities. We listen to Dr. Seuss stories and stop throughout the story to point out rhyming words. After reviewing rhyming, I get out some of our favorite rhyming puzzles.

                   

I use the rhyming puzzles in a center where students match the puzzle pieces and then record their rhymes on a recording sheet.

Students can also use stamps to record their puzzle rhyming matches! We use upper and lower case stamps like the ones pictured below. I have used this brand for years and they have held up really well! I like that they have their own case and students can keep them all in order, so they are easy to find!

Some more of our favorite Dr. Seuss books are listed below!